Page 51 of Running from Drac

“Oh gross. I’m eating here. Keep your parental sex talk down to a minimum, please.” Pushing the plate away from me, I groan. “Actually, I just lost my appetite.”

They share a high five, then go straight to eating their food like this isn’t the most fucked up thing to wake up to on a Saturday.

“So, Amber left quite early. Everything okay?” my mother questions mid chew.

“She has to work this morning.”

“Ah, everything okay between you two? I read your cards this morning and what I saw wasn’t great.”

That’s never good. As much as I hate my mother doing readings on me, when she sees negative things in her cards, bad things happen. “Like what?”

She briefly meets my gaze, a look of hesitation resting in her eyes. “I probably shouldn’t tell you. You look so happy.”

“That’s ‘cause his world just got rocked. You’d be happy too if you had sex in the middle of a rainstorm.”

“I’d be ecstatic,” my mother agrees. “Rain is nature’s aphrodisiac, after all.”

My father and I share a look, both of us trying to hide our amusement.

“I’m serious,” she yells, whacking my father with her hand. “I know my stuff. I spent half a semester in college studying karma sutra.”

“Please don’t talk about that either,” I say over a groan. “I don’t want to know anything about your sex life.”

“It was more of an extra-curricular activity. An after-school club, if you will. I explored more things in that one semester than I have in my whole life. It’s when I went through my lesbian phase.”

“That was such a glorious phase,” my father says with pride. “The threesomes were amazing.”

“You know what? On second thought, don’t tell me what your cards say. I’m gonna get the hell out of here before you start talking about your love of bondage and whips.”

My mother smacks my father again. “I thought we weren’t going to tell him about our freaky Fridays?” she mumbles through the side of her mouth, unable to hide her evil grin. She knows exactly what she’s doing, and I hate it.

“Yup, I’m definitely out of here…”

They both laugh. “We’re just kidding, Eddie. It’s not every day we get to gross out our son. If you really want to know, I’ll tell you, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Reluctantly, I sit back down, unsure if I want a bulldozer to demolish this happy place I’m living in.

“I used two of my decks, doing my daily affirmations and blessings. Randomly, I’ll sometimes ask about you and your father. After what I witnessed last night, I thought it be fun to run some cards on you.” Her playful smile slightly dwindles. “But what I saw wasn’t good. I used a Celtic Cross. Right at the center, I pulledThe Lovers, reversed. That caught my breath. It usually means disharmony and misalignment, like two people wanting different things but trying to force it.”

“So, you’re saying that Amber and I are in disharmony?”

“If that was the only card, then yes, but it wasn’t. Crossing it was the Three of Swords, the one with a bleeding heart and three swords stabbing through it. It means pain and betrayal, Eddie. Other times it can mean a third party. That’s what I felt when I read them. Someone’s going to interfere with your relationship, I’m not sure if it’s emotional, physical, or intentional, but the aftermath is going to be catastrophic, you’ll feel the wound like you’re always bleeding.”

My father sits stoically in his chair, refusing to say a word, only judging me with his one good eye, studying me for a reaction. He knows I don’t believe in this shit, but for some reason, her words make me worry.

“I can see the pain in your eyes already. That’s whyThe Devilcard laid in the foundation. Temptation and obsession areholding you back, Eddie. It’s not love if you’re tethered to a chain.”

“Are you trying to say I’m trapped in my relationship?”

“Or she is. Hell, maybe you both are. Sometimes it can be as simple as hanging onto something that isn’t real anymore. I only say that becauseThe Towerwas in your near future. It means sudden upheaval, and that bitch of a card doesn’t lie. Truths are going to come out, Eddie, and they’re going to devastate and destroy you. But you gotta look at the bright side. Sometimes things have to fall apart so we can peel back the layers and see what’s actually real.”

“I don’t see how that’s good news, Mom.” A knowing shiver crosses through me. I’m holding back so much from Amber, truths that I know will destroy us and tumble the tower we’ve tried to hideaway in. But fuck me for wanting to save us—for protecting her from the truths that I know will break her.

She shakes her head. “I know you don’t believe in this stuff, but I believe in you, Eddie. I know that you’ll figure out what’s best for you. It’s why theSeven of Swordswas hanging out in your environment placement. Someone’s hiding something. It might not even be about you, but it’s definitely affecting your relationship. That’s what leads to your outcome… theTen of Swords.”

“Is that the card where the dude has a bunch of stupid swords in his back?”

She nods. “Those stupid swords symbolize an ending. A very painful and final one. It won’t be easy, and even though I hate telling you this, I don’t think you two are going to make it past your wedding day. There was noTen of Cupsin your spread to show me a positive outcome for the two of you. At least not now.”